1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to decorative Christmas display ornaments that have a frame and decorative lights attached to the frame.
2. Description of Related Art
Many people decorate their houses during the Christmas season. It is quite common for people to string lights around the exterior of their house using hooks which are fastened to the walls, roof and gutters. Typically the lights are strung in straight lines along the edges or roof line of the house or around windows and doors. Various types of hooks are available to hold Christmas light strings ranging from threaded eyebolts to plastic clips. In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,192 I disclose one type of hook for hanging cords from a gutter or the like.
Another type of outdoor Christmas decorations are lawn ornaments. Christmas season lawn ornaments, both lighted and unlighted, and are available in many configurations, from Christmas trees to elves to manger scenes to Santa""s sleigh and reindeers. Some of these ornaments are molded plastic structures molded to look like a reindeer, Santa Claus or other holiday character. Usually these ornaments are hollow and contain one or more light bulbs inside of them. Another common type of holiday lawn ornament has a frame and one or more strings of decorative light bulbs attached to the frame. The frame could be formed from bent wire or plastic shapes, plastic or metal rods or wood. One example of this type of ornament is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,172 to Huag. Most of these ornaments are sold fully assembled or in a few pieces that are easily connected together. Consequently, these ornaments must be sold and stored in relatively large boxes. Nearly all of these ornaments are designed to have a single shape when fully assembled.
Another common lawn ornament is a Christmas tree formed with a pole embedded in the ground having multiple strings of lights strung from the top of the pole or a set of inclined poles and then staked to the ground. This pattern forms a conical shape that resembles a Christmas tree, especially at night when the strings of lights are lit up and neither the pole nor the strings on which the lights are carried are visible. This type of decoration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,366 to Korb et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,621 to Mauro; U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,270 to Laakso; U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,966 to Miller et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,002 to Rielly III. This type of tree typically is found in a commercial or public area, is over ten feet high, and was assembled by professionals. Some homeowners have created this type of tree in their yards. There are several kits available in the market that allow homeowners to easily create this type of ornament. One such kit is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,228.
Because many people enjoy creating holiday decorations there is a demand for kits that enable the customer to create holiday decorations. Those kits that enable the customer to create more than one design are preferred by many people. One such craft kit in which selected pieces are placed in a netting assembly to create a decorative shape is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,613 to Lin. Goodwin in U.S. Pat. No. 2,722,317 discloses a lamp support structure than is an elongated flexible strip with spaced apart pockets sized to receive a decorative light socket. Several strips can be assembled into selected shapes such as a star or a bell. U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,366 to Claude and U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,260 to Duncan disclose star shaped displays in which a string of decorative lights is attach to a star shaped frame. Another star-shaped display is disclosed by Leffel in U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,626. That display is constructed from connectors that have a long arm and a short arm extending from an angular section. Yet another star display is disclosed by Lee in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,206. That display is made from a set of mounting elements that hold lights from a Christmas light set. Each mounting element has a hole at opposite ends and a dowel pin on one face opposite a socket on the reverse side. The dowel pin of one mounting element fits into the socket of another mounting element. The displays disclosed by most of these prior art patents are flat structures made from a set of pieces that can be assembled in only one size and usually in only one shape. The three dimensional display disclosed by Huag is created from a large number of differently shaped pieces. Consequently, this display is much more expensive than the simple flat displays disclosed in the other references. There is a need for a holiday ornament kit that will enable the user to create a variety of both flat and three-dimensional shapes that can be easily assembled by a homeowner. Although the art has attempted to create such kits they have met with only limited success because the art has not developed a connector that will enable straight pieces to be joined at several different angles without breaking or becoming disconnected.
I provide a holiday ornament kit containing a plurality of rods having a limited degree of flexibility and a set of connectors that enable two or more rods to be connected together at a variety of different angles. The connector has two or more arms, each arm having a flat base and two spaced apart loops. The loops form two spaced apart openings on a common centerline, each opening having a diameter close to the diameter of the rods. A stop is provided at a selected distance from one of the loops and a bump or ridge is provided a short distance away from the second loop. The ridge bends the rod being held in the loops slightly improving the grip of the connector on the rods. The two or more anns are connected together at a permanent angle or are pivotably connected and thus able to be positioned in a number of selected angles. For some purposes, the arms are made of a flexible material to enable the ends of the arms to move relative to one another. I prefer to provide a flexible locking arm that will retain the pivotably connected arms at a selected angle. Some of the connectors may have holes of a diameter close to the diameter of the rods for connecting rods perpendicular to one another. The rods may have a circular, oval; or polygon cross-section. The rods preferably are fiberglass and xc2xc inch in diameter. Such rods have some flexibility. Consequently, the flexibility of the rods and the flexibility of the connectors enables one to create geodesic domes as well as flat structures. Tubular connectors can be provided to attach two rods end to end. After the rods are joined together by rod connectors decorative light holders are attached to the rods to hold one or more strings of decorative lights.
Other details, objects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings of certain presently preferred embodiments thereof.